embarkpensions.co.uk Reviews 52

Whatever you have read about Embark on this platform is absolutely true. I was cast there by default with the demise of Liberty Pensions. They are the worst company ever to deal with. Lost e-mails, extremely slow response time, never getting back and so on. I waited over 8 months for a transfer to Vanguard. After lodging a complaint with their team, I was awarded compensation for lost revenue. That was March 25, and now its Oct 25 and guess what...nothing! Further e-mails gone unanswered by every department. I urge everyone connected with this debacle of a company to get out ASAP!

Absolutely dire customer service. I have the misfortune of having a SIPP managed by this company. Endless queuing on the phone, no replies to email and an unwillingness to do the job they charge hefty fees. My IFA has managed to extract some financial compensation but its not enough

Their service is atrocious.I concur with other people’s responses don’t use this company As a retired IFA if my company treated customers like Embark do I would have been reported to FCA . Treating customers fairly is a joke and being trustees they control all actions to suit themselves it seems
0 is more accurate

This company should have zero, not one star. As with all the reviews I am having the same problems. They need to be Shut Down They are unfit for purpose. Terrible to deal with and we PAY them for what.

Appalling to try and deal with. Sitting on my money and don't answer emails, don't answer the phone. Have been trying to get answers out of them for over 2 months and no closer than when I started. Their own complaints team seem to have no better success than I do. I see I am far from the first to have bad experience with them so next step is an official complaint to the Financial Conduct Authority

All contact numbers that are published by Embark Pensions seem to take you nowhere but into a time-wasting voice-assistant holding loop. Same for their customer services line as it is for their SIPP property enquiry/help lines.
No human being seems to be accessible over the telephone. It is just scandalous that a company that is sitting on your retirement savings makes themselves unreachable to discuss your business. Taking my business elsewhere.. just as soon as I can get through to someone at Embark to arrange the release of the funds. Dire customer service.. if indeed it exists at all?!

Truly unresponsive. They seem to work on a 10 day response cycle; 10 days to respond to a form, 10 days to respond to an email. All forms submitted will raise a query, which when responded to immediately will result in another 10 day delay. I am actively looking to find an alternative. I appreciate that SIPP adminstration is not at the glamour end of the finance sector, so will not attract the brightest talent but you would have thought that there may be one or two sentient beings in there.

I also have tried multiple times to communicate by email and phone but no one replies. I wish to move to another pension provider whom has at a minimum provision a basic customer service, something this company is devoid of! I strongly advise do not use this company.

I have had the misfortune of dealing with this company. They are a disaster. No communication and no acknowledgements of any correspondence you send them.

Stay away!

I said how bad Embark are in my earlier review.
My wife applied for her account to go into drawdown so she could take a small income. The process started on 4th August. At todays date 18th December the process is still incomplete, she has not had any communications back from them after trying to encourage them to get on with the paperwork.
So far 4 months and no action or arrangements to pay the pension.
Disgusting, incompetent and arrogant.
This review I wrote on 2nd September.
"Appalling customer service, in fact non at all.
I have over the years asked a few questions about my SIPP with Embark. I have never got a straight answer.
I am now about to report them to the ASA and FCA. On their website they state that if a customer transfers cash into one of their pathway products the annual fee would be 0.39%. The product you are actually buying via the Pathway is a Black Rock investment fund.
If you look at the fees listed on the Black Rock investment information sheet the initial investment fee is 5% then 0.39%. That means an extra £2500 fee if you transfer £50,000 into a Pathway product.
No one from Embark will tell me which is correct. Probably because they don't know. It means nothing to them, its not their money. So they don't care.
Today I tried phoning, typically I was number 24 in the queue.
Appalling, lazy, ill informed, poorly managed and a ripping off customers."

Do not use this company.
I have been trying to transfer out since April.
They do not respond or acknowledge emails, and have not replied to requests for updates 7th May,6th June,9th July,14th Aug from my new provider Curtis Bank. If you can get through on the help line nothing is done.
I have made a formal complaint. I have worked in Financial Services for 30years and have never come across such incompetence or indifference.

This Company is the most inefficient, customer unfriendly organisation ever. Never reply to emails. Take forever to achieve anything, and never ever tell you what is going on. It is impossible to speak to the person dealing with your matter; they are never available. Just horrid. They don't deserve to have any clients quite frankly.

Truly awful service, nearly impossible to withdraw funds.

I just want to add my poor review to the long list.
Embark administer my Nutmeg pension.
I just wish they didn't.
The Nutmeg pension is excellent from the investment point of view, but the administration is appalling.
Embark cause dangerous delays in the withdrawal process. They also ask questions which are totally irrelevant since pension regulation changes have occurred.
My advice would be to avoid any pension fund administered by Embark.
They will cost you a lot of money and time.

Embark pension platform are a scam!!!! Try getting your money out, ITS IMPOSSIBLE!!! DO NOT USE! THEY WILL HOLD YOUR MONEY TO RANSOM!!

Waste of time maybe as they do not read these reviews. However if it warns others maybe worth the effort.
I left What was then Hornbuckle transferring my SIPP to A J Bell. It took forever but finally was done. However now some years later I wanted to access my SIPP and find that they transferred it as not in drawdown which it is. This means since May I have been locked out of my account and all attempts by AJB to talk to them have failed. If a major company like AJB cannot get them to answer a simple question the rest of us don’t stand a chance.
Caveat emptor!

I keep saying im going to move away from these and still they increase the fees and never get any better in the last 15 years. I am going to have to else it will be impossible to move assets why I retire. Terrible way handle property purchases or sales under SIPP typically "7 months plus" !

Embark Pensions are hands down the most incoherent Pension Administrator on the market.

They don't have an exit process, so trying to get a partial or full transfer away is proving impossible.

There are no escalation points of contact, managers shy away from call backs and emails are not generally replied to.

Their complaints department are also useless, having been blanked for an entire fortnight which was a first for a regulated business.

If I could give 0 I would . They were my pension administrator for 20 years until I finally bit the bullet and moved - the new company (InvestAcc) is a breath of fresh air. Embark are quite frankly incompetent and not fit to be in charge of people’s pensions . They double charge, take months to action a request, lose documents, and are utterly unhelpful . The fact they don’t publish any service standards says it all . I’ve moved but am still waiting for the residual money in the account to be transferred months later . They simply ignore my requests . AVOID

If I could give zero stars, I would. Embark has managed my SIPP fund for four years, and every year, it’s a battle to get their property team to follow a simple instruction—paying my property insurance. Each time, it takes 5 to 6 weeks to make any progress, and 2025 is no different. My property remains uninsured because they still haven’t settled the renewal payment. They frequently promise payments within 24 hours, but it never happens. As of now, I’m still waiting for my insurance renewal from February 12th to be paid. Avoid this company at all costs—it’s an absolute shambles. I will be transferring my account to another investment provider.